Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Path: gmd.de!jvnc.net!yale.edu!yale!gumby!destroyer!cs.ubc.ca!newsserver.sfu.ca!sfu.ca!neilg
From: neilg@fraser.sfu.ca (Neil K. Guy)
Subject: Re: Parser heresy (was Re: Searching for a sense of wonder)
Message-ID: <neilg.722122686@sfu.ca>
Sender: news@sfu.ca
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
References: <1e5mvtINNnlp@terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu> <1992Nov15.155951.3262@starbase.trincoll.edu> <BxttrL.E6x@acsu.buffalo.edu> <1ea71uINNkv1@life.ai.mit.edu> <blasius.88.722034873@gmd.de>
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 21:38:06 GMT
Lines: 32

blasius@gmd.de (Volker Blasius) writes:

>To be honest, I can and I saw it in WORLD: some things you had to do slowly 
>or cautiously or some such, and it seemed quite natural to me - life isn't 
>just a binary do-don't. Where is the problem? Does it complicate the game 
>too much? To use your example, should 'snatch the book from the troll' work,
>just because it is orthodox syntax? I just don't understand your argument.

 I've thought about the adverb thing, and I suppose it would be rather
nice sometimes to permit adverbs. But they do open a particularly
large and wriggly tin of worms. It's bad enough having to code in
everything silly that a player might do without having to worry about
adverbs as well. There's also the danger of making needlessly nitpicky
puzzles. (ie if: "GENTLY LIFT THE RUBBER CHICKEN OFF THE MANTELPIECE"
worked but "TENTATIVELY LIFT..." didn't I think the player would have
good reason to be annoyed.

 Of course, I think it would be nice if TADS (since I use TADS) had a
class of words that were simply ignored. You could type in unnecessary
adverbs if you felt like it, and the game would just cut them out.
Just another way of getting rid of that irritating "SORRY, I DON'T
KNOW WHAT 'OBSEQUIOUSLY' (or whatever) MEANS." error message.

 Anyway, now that I think about it I think that adding adverb support
might be complicated but could add an interesting new dimension.
Perhaps you could set up a class of adverbs that are all ignored, and
only certain key adverbs for specific verbs would be parsed. Then you
could have intelligent responses to commands like DROP FRAGILE CRYSTAL
CHANDELIER. Always kind of bugged me that you could drop anything in a
text adventure instead of, say, PUT DOWN, and not break anything.

 - Neil K. (n_k_guy@sfu.ca)
